President Obama met with French President Francois Hollande Tuesday at the White House as Hollande tries to assemble an international coalition to defeat ISIS. In the press conference following their hour-long meeting, Obama pledged more support for the French effort but did not endorse deploying U.S. ground troops or joining a coalition that would include Russia, reports David Jackson:
"As Americans, we stand by our friends in good times and in bad," Obama told reporters after meeting with French President Francois Hollande. The United States and France in particular will "deliver justice" to the perpetrators of the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, and to "those who sent them," he said.
The "murderous ideology" of the Islamic State "poses a serious threat to all of us," Obama said. "It cannot be tolerated. It must be destroyed. And we must do it together."
President Hollande's efforts to build an international force coalition were complicated by reports Tuesday morning that Turkish air forces shot down a Russian fighter jet that had allegedly violated Turkey's air space while flying a mission over Syria.
Hollande, who is meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday, indicated that he’s still seeking Russia's help with defeating ISIS. But President Obama delivered a less sparing assessment of Russia's positioning vis-à-vis the international effort.
Obama, responding to the same question, said "we've got a coalition of 65 countries," while Russia has a "coalition of two" in which it and Iran are backing the Assad regime in Syria at the expense of fighting the Islamic State.
"Russia is the outlier," Obama said at one point.